Silhouette

Issue date: 10/24/02 Section: Front Page

Through fingerprint comparison, police have identified 18-year-old Chi Kim Thi Nguyen as the woman whose body was discovered Oct. 11 at the Best Western Red Baron Hotel, 2205 E. Business 50.

Police responded to a report of the discovery of a body at approximately 4:45 p.m., Oct. 11.

According to Captain Mike Utz of the Garden City Police Department, the body was found underneath the mattress on the floor. Hotel personnel found the body when investigating a report of a foul odor.

"Hotel personnel went in there to investigate a report of a foul odor," Utz said. "As they were investigating the foul odor, they were stripping the sheets from the beds. They lifted the mattress and found [Chi] Nguyen."

Utz said Chi's parents, Nguyen Nguyen and Thao Thi Pham, reported her missing Oct. 6 at approximately 9 p.m. She was last seen leaving her residence at 9 a.m., Oct. 5.

Chi's body was sent to the Regional Forensics Science Center in Wichita for an autopsy Oct. 12.

"The cause of death is still pending," Utz said. "[But] this investigation is being treated as a homicide investigation due to its suspicious nature."

Detectives identified the person who had rented the hotel room as a man the victim had met on the Internet and had been chatting with in chat rooms for several months, Utz said.

"The individual rented the room on Sept. 30 and last paid for the room on Oct. 5," Utz said. "Hotel personnel cleaned the room on Oct. 6 and nobody stayed in the room from the sixth to the eleventh."

"We are still backgrounding the individual who checked into the hotel," Utz said. "We know where he came from. We're looking into where he may have gone from Garden City. We have a lot to do. This is a priority case for detectives."

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